The number of foreign workers who received a work permit for the first time has increased by five percent in 2018, reaching 86,894, according to the Ministry of Labor (MoL).

Around 88 percent of the new permits were given for household workers.

Ten percent of new foreign workers are cleaning agents, agricultural workers, porters and fuel station workers, and 80 percent are Ethiopian, reaching 69,760 followed by Egyptians and Filipinos.

The ministry has also renewed 182,749 work permits, an eight percent increase over 2017.

MoL is working to activate labor treaties with Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda, according to Georges Ayda, General Director of MoL. “These treaties align with both Lebanese Labor Law and the International Labor laws,” said Ayda.

Ethiopia forbade its citizens from working in Lebanon last November due to differences between Lebanon and Ethiopia over the terms of the new MoU. The ban was reversed shortly following the start of negotiations over the new MoU between the two countries in December.